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NRIs Virtual Meeting IV, 6 May 2019

The 4th virtual meeting of the National, Subregional, Regional and Youth IGF Initiatives (NRIs), took place on 6 May 2019 at 14:00 p.m. UTC.

The meeting was hosted by the IGF Secretariat’s NRIs Focal Point. The final, adopted version of the Agenda is attached to this document as Annex A1 and a list of meeting Participants as Annex A2. The list of shared documents is attached to this report as Annex A3.

Summary of key points

The Host opened the meeting by introducing the agenda and asking participants to briefly introduce themselves. The IGF-USA co-coordinator requested to add a discussion about the funding mechanisms for attending the IGF 2019 meeting. With this addition, the agenda was adopted (Annex A1).

The Host shared the preliminary results of the NRIs Call for Inputs that was opened during the February – April 2019 time-period:

It was reported that 137 inputs from 45 NRIs were received. This includes records from the Italian IGF and the Colombia IGF that were added during the meeting.

The Host explained that many of received inputs are of a cross-cutting nature and for this reason invited everyone to provide feedback and suggest potential changes to the initial analysis.

Participants were informed that the following thematic frameworks received the biggest number of inputs:

1st priority: DIGITAL INCLUSION AND ACCESSIBILITY. The majority of inputs focused on the following three topics: 1) Equal access and meaningful stakeholder inclusion; 2) Developing capacity for meaningful and inclusive access; 3) Digital cooperation for meaningful and inclusive access

2nd priority: CYBERSECURITY, TRUST AND PRIVACY. The majority of inputs focused on the following three topics: 1) Cybersecurity; 2) Digital cooperation for safe Internet; 3) Role of stakeholders for safe Internet; 4) Response to cyber-attacks.

3rd priority: HUMAN RIGHTS. The majority of inputs focused on the following three topics: 1) Digital rights and freedoms; 2) Protection of privacy in the digital age; 3) Freedom of Expression on the Internet.

The Host reminded that the chosen session should fall under one of the three main themes of this year’s IGF.

After the presented results, the floor was opened for a discussion. Participants were asked to advise on what approach to take toward agreeing on a topic of mutual interest as the focus of the NRIs joint/main session.

The IGF-USA co-coordinator suggested that the NRIs focus on emerging technologies, such for example is the Artificial Intelligence, in relation to these supporting the digital inclusion and accessibility. A number of participants expressed support. It was further advised by some to identify a topical interface that could encompasses all prioritized topics.

The coordinator of the Brazil IGF explained that the NRIs could focus on a broad topic that will allow evryone to feed into with their inputs of relevance. After providing with a couple of examples, the coordinator pointed that a number of topics have technical, policy, legal, ethical, security aspects etc.

Upon Brazil IGF coordinator’s proposal, it was agreed that the NRIs focus their session on a broad substantive framework: ‘Emerging technologies and their interfaces with inclusion, security and human rights’. This will allow for the NRIs to act as ‘policy communities’ and to advise on aspects of relevance under this broad theme. Once all inputs are received, the theme could be narrowed down and policy questions defined.

A few participants were of an opinion that the framework is too broad and too technical.

It was agreed that the second planning stage will focus if the NRIs should propose concrete activities and actions for improvements and if the written submission on the topic will be developed.

It was agreed that the IGF Secretariat will start drafting a proposal for the session, based on the agreed broad topical framework and share with the NRIs in the next seven days.

Participants agreed that the format of the session will depend on a setup of the room. The IGF Secretariat was asked to share the room layout, once available. On the duration of the session, it was said that the NRIs will wait for the input from the IGF Secretariat as this depends on the interpreters and the UN protocol.

Participants briefly engaged in the discussion on the difference between the intersessional work and the NRIs work. Some underlined the fundamental difference in the approach and work methodology. Present BPF co-facilitator on the BPF on Internet of Things, Big Data and Artificial Intelligence said that the BPF also calls for the bottom up inputs that are analysed in a final outcome document. The Host added that the intersessional work is important and reminded that the NRIs are among the biggest contributors to it. It was said that the network should reasonably approach the overall programme of the IGF 2019, look into the main session substantive focus and avoid duplicating discussions.

Participants moved to discussing the NRIs collaborative sessions, mainly how to choose the topics and how to structure internal organization of these.

It was agreed to limit the number of sessions the NRIs can commit to co-organise to two (2). Further, participants agreed that the NRIs Session Guidelines from 2017 should be updated to reflect description of every role in the sessions, namely the role of: moderators, co-organizers and speakers. Participants compromised that the number of involved NRIs as speakers should not be limited. This will be under the discretion of the co-organizers. The IGF Secretariat will communicate the updated set of Session Guidelines for the NRIs review, potential update and approval.

The IGF-USA co-coordinator shared a good practice from their national IGF and advised the NRIs to assign the ‘wrangler’ role to each of the collaborative sessions. It was explained that this role’s main duty is to be aware of the work status of the team, if the set milestones are met and providing logistical and coordination support/assistance. A number of participants expressed support for this approach. The Host advised to consider adopting another term, more common for the IGF discourse.

As a guest, a representative from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has joined the meeting. An update on the development of the Internet Universality Indicators was presented. It was said that the national assessment of the indications is the phase the organization recently conducted. The NRIs were invited to join this important process. It was also added that the national multistakeholder board will be organized to ensure the assessment process is done in accordance with the agreed principles. The Host suggested to provide inputs on this valuable content also on the NRIs mailing list for the information of everyone.

The UNESCO representative praised the NRIs for their good work and asked for guidance on how to strengthen the collaboration between the NRIs and UNESCO, including the UNESCO regional offices. It was agreed that this important topic will be discussed further via the NRIs mailing list.

The Meeting was concluded with a few updates from the IGF Secretariat, while the NRIs were invited to communicate updates via email. Due to the time limitation, the AoB section on funding was not discussed. The discussion on this subject will be carried out through the NRIs mailing list.